Archive for the ‘In the news’ category

You might be thinking that just because it’s winter and there’s no danger of getting sunburnt, that winter weather is a time you can take a break from worrying about your skin. Think again!!!

Cold winds and dry air from central heating which pulls moisture from your skin, can leave your face looking and feeling very dry and parched. Usually we don’t drink as much water in the winter or eat as many fresh salads or fruit so that adds to the dehydration problem. The delicate skin around the eyes can get extremely dry and sore in winter, especially in cold winds, which can lead to the fine lines around the eyes looking much deeper and more prominent.

Technically what happens is that the outer layer of our skin – the horny layer – can’t hold on to the water that comes from deeper skin layers and we lose moisture by evaporation.
To hold the water in your skin, you need a humectant which is an ingredient that attracts water. The most common is glycerine which is a very strong binder of water and is an excellent hydrating ingredient.

Water

The recommended amount of water for women is about 1.5 litres/day and I think most women struggle to drink that amount as pure water in the winter. We tend to favour hot drinks – tea, coffee, hot chocolate – all of which are diuretics and further dehydrate our skin. Hot or warm water though, can be flavoured with a slice of lemon or lime; mint leaves make a very refreshing drink; white tea is good and is said to strengthen collagen and elastin.
Whilst it’s lovely and comforting to have hot baths and wash your face with steaming hot water, if it’s excessively hot, it will strip the natural healthy oils from your skin. If you use water on your face, the general consensus is that warm or lukewarm water is best.

If you apply your moisturiser to slightly warm skin you’ll find it’s absorbed much more easily. It’s not a good idea though to put your moisturiser into boiling water to warm it up, [it has happened!] you destroy the emulsification and it will separate into oil and water! You’ve just lost your moisturiser.

Sun protection
Yes, you do still need it, even though it’s winter and the sun is not glaring down on you.

Even though it’s cold and you can’t feel the warmth of the sun, don’t be fooled into thinking that it isn’t there and isn’t affecting you.
Despite the debate about Vitamin D levels and not getting enough exposure to sunlight, it’s important to understand what UV radiation is and how it affects your skin.
UV radiation is the number one factor responsible for skin cancers, including basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma. In fact, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization have identified broad spectrum UV as a human carcinogen.

UV radiation has 3 specific wavebands
They differ in their biological activity and the depth to which they penetrate into the skin.
The two you need to know about are
UVA and UVB

UVA is the long wavelength (320-400 nm) and accounts for up to 95 percent of the solar UV radiation reaching the Earth’s surface.
It can penetrate into the deeper layers of the skin and has for years been thought to play a major part in skin ageing and wrinkling.
The important thing to remember is that UVA rays are present during all daylight hours including the winter months so we need to protect ourselves.
It’s also useful to know that it can penetrate through clouds and glass – which means that any windows you sit by are not protecting you!

UVB is the middle-range of UV with wavelengths between 290-320 nm.
It’s responsible for burning, tanning and acceleration of skin ageing and plays a key role in the development of skin cancer. It doesn’t penetrate through glass like UVA.

Find protection that offers multi-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB.
Just because a sunscreen states a high SPF rating, it doesn’t mean it protects against both forms of UV radiation. Read the label to make sure you have proper protection.

Warning over ‘epidemic’ of skin allergies from chemicals in cosmetics and household products

I wonder how many people took this headline seriously. We should, because it could have wider implications than we realise.

At last, the news is out that chemicals you put on your skin can have consequences for your health; in fact, you could say that your skin is an excellent drug delivery system! After all, that’s why hormone patches and nicotine patches work! So it should come as no surprise that MI (methylisothiazolinone) has negative effects on your skin.

In a world that in increasingly toxic I believe we no longer have the physiological capacity to deal with the huge rise in toxic chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis in one form or another.

Since World War 11, 80,000 new synthetic chemicals have been produced and released into the environment – pesticides, herbicides, chemical solvents, xenobiotics, toxic metals, plasticisers, disinfectants, chemicals from industrial pollution, nitrates and fertilisers, not to mention the rise in smoking and second hand smoke, – and those are just a handful of what’s on offer.

As far back as 1962, the potential risk from chemicals was highlighted by Rachel Carson in her ground breaking book Silent Spring.

Whilst many companies claim that toxicology studies are done on a particular chemical, what no one can do is assess the risks when different chemicals are combined. If you think about it, it’s an impossible task, where would you begin? There is no way you could test all the different combinations.

Most women are using hundreds of chemicals on a daily basis – shower gel, deodorant, moisturiser, eye cream, night cream, eye shadow, eye liner, lip liner, blusher, lipstick etc and they’re using them every single day.

Many of these chemicals are fat soluble. That means they are stored in fatty/adipose tissue in your body and the organ with the highest % of fat is your brain!

At the moment, the focus is on skin and allergies, but how long will it take to recognise that the increase in brain diseases such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers, just might have something to do with the rise in chemicals in our environment, in our homes, in the products we put on our skin and which, I believe, based on the work I do with clients who suffer from Multiple Chemical Sensitivity, are no longer metabolised by an overloaded liver.

When you realise that your liver has specific pathways that deal with all the toxicity most of us are exposed to, it makes sense to support and look after it, which could mean changing your diet, giving up alcohol, changing the products you use, going on a detox, taking appropriate supplements to support liver function..…….there are many options! There’s a school of thought that says ‘detoxing’ isn’t necessary and it’s a waste of time and money, but your liver is fundamental to your health so it makes sense to take the very best care of it.